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Most consider bunker play to be a difficult task but do not freight as it can easily become one of your most trusted shots ounce you master a couple techniques.

First, we need to consider the “right” way to play a bunker shot, open clubface, feet open to the target line, long backswing and hit hard through the ball, now we have considered it, you can forget it!! All of it!!!

The sand wedge is primarily designed for the act of escaping a greenside bunker and therefore has been created with bounce and a leading edge that “cuts” through the sand, so why do we feel the need to “manipulate” this design.

If a sand wedge was supposed to be used from an open position it would be designed, cast and sold this way, to begin with.

And this is the first mistake of so many amateurs that are struggling with bunker shots.

KEEP THE CLUBFACE SQUARE TO YOUR TARGET.

This does two things, one ensures that the ball will come out of the bunker towards the intended target and two it will enable you to almost eliminate the chance of blading the ball straight across the green or into the face of the bunker.

The second mistake amateurs make is they have no idea of where they should be entering the sand, this should be a distance of 1 ball behind the object ball. I use the imagery of a golf ball because golfers can correctly identify the size of a golf instead of saying 2 inches.

You must practice hitting the sand in the intended place, so grab yourself a dozen balls, draw a line in the sand a ball width behind the object balls. Before hitting the balls out you need to practice hitting that line, so remove the balls and hit the line. This can be done from a parallel stance or slightly open, no more than 10º to your intended target line.

Swing your club along the line of your body, as we do with every single swing.

Once you are hitting the line consistently (7 times out of 10) place the balls back in front of the line and repeat. You will see the balls fly up and out of the bunker and land nicely on the green on the line of your target.

Controlling the distance will take a little more practice, but this technique works under almost any circumstance.

There is one final key point you must be aware of:

LOOK AT THE POINT IN THE SAND YOU WANT TO HIT NOT THE BALL, this is the next mistake and the reason for the drill beginning without balls. If you are trying to throw a ball at a target you don´t look at your friend sitting in a chair across the room, you look at what you are trying to hit. The same applies here, look at the line (imaginary line when you are on the golf course obviously).